Kolkata (Calcutta) Things to Do

Without a tourist in sight, my meal of 'Bhel Puri' was only 10 rupees (25c) and absolutely delicious. A mixture of different fried snacks with puffed rice and garnished with tomatoes, onion and coriander. I doubt they would have had many takers from the west, as the whole stall screamed E-Coli and food poisoning - but alas, none for me!

Although delicious, it was hardly filling so I strolled for a while longer and found a chaat stand. Like anywhere else, 'Samosa Chaat' is a messy eating experience in Kolkata. It doesn't look appetizing in the traditional sense, more like somebody spewed in a bowl and handed it to you, but it is more than just delicious - it is something that can never be replicated outside of India. The perfect souvenir, if only temporary.

Victoria Memorial - At the bargain rate of 4 rupees, I am able to wander freely through the elaborate gardens that surround this beautiful monument. The building itself lies on the banks of the Hooghly river, which provides a refreshing breeze amidst the hot and humid Bengali climate. It is also one of the few places in Kolkata where there are rubbish bins, and each is a different cartoonish design. They range from sailors with bow-ties to dolphins in coitus, and are eye-catching if a little strange. Upon leaving the site, there are open paddocks with free roaming cattle and pony-wallahs selling their wares. Horse rides go for 100 rupees per hour, after hard bargaining.

If this attraction doesn't fascinate the children then nothing ever will.

In Curzon Park (close to the BBD bagh) is the 'rat park' or 'rat colony'. Guidebooks will tell you about wire enclosures, but this is untrue - the wire may just about proect the burrows from human beings, but that is about it.

I've heard it said that you are never more than eight feet away in the UK from a rat having a shag, but Calcutta must beat that statistic by a fair margin.

As always in India there is religious element. Many believe that the God Ganesha travelled on a rat. Many therfore see feeding rats in this particular colony as a form of worship.

Not for the faint-hearted.

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This beautiful structure Princep Jetty was constructed after Joseph Princep, The British engineer and multifarious genius. He was the original town planner of British Built Calcutta. He was also responsible for developing Calcutta City sewage system, which still exist. City of calcutta is still dependant on that system.

It was also the place on the River Ganges where, the ships used to bring Europeans and the British to the soil of Kolkata.

Enjoy the new pictures taken from different angles.

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The City of Kolkata was in full bloom during end of 19th Century and in 20th Century. The British built the city in the pattern of 19th century /early 20th Century of London. Naturally lot of beautiful / heritage buildings were decaying. While many beautiful buildings were razed and sold to land sharks mostly in the last 30years or so, many organisations came forward in their rescue. As a result now many buildings are now being restored in Kolkata. Hopefully, someday we shall be able to see many beautifully buildings fully restored.

Many corporate house like cigarette giant ITC have restored and maintained their house
beautifully.

Addendum: ( 14th Sept'2010): I wrote this tip in 2008, when I mentioned about the Cottage Industry building will be restored to it's glory. Now if you cross/ move in Esplanade area, you will be able to see, how beautifully it is being restored. It will get completed in 2010 itself. The building is being painted in white , with gold at the top. Looks beautiful! I shall put more pictures once it is fully restored.

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This temple, in the north-east of the city, was built in 1867 and dedicated to Sheetalnathji, the 10th of the 24 Jain tirthankars. The temple is an ornate mass of mirrors, coloured stones and glass mosaics. It overlooks a garden, and is open daily from 6 to 11.30 am and 3 to 7 pm but I found it is open at 1.00 PM also on Sunday. There is a set of four temples of Jain Tirthankars.

This is a place where you get peace of your mind.

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The Indian Botanical Garden, Howrah, commonly known as Calcutta Botanical Gardens, is situated in Shibpor, Howrah, across the Hooghlie river from the main part of Kolkata. It was founded in 1787 by Colonel Robert Kydd, in order to find new plants of commercial value, and to grow them for trade - one of it's greatest triumphs was the introduction from China of the tea plant, which was then established in the Himalayas and in Assam. In the nineteenth century however, the gardens began to display their collection of ornamental plants to the public.

The Large Palm house was built in the middle of the 19th century to house palms and shade-loving plants - at the centre of the house grows the Double Coconut tree, indigenous to the Seychelles Islands, and introduced and planted here in 1894. It is the largest seed-bearing plant so far discovered - the seed looks like two coconuts fused together, hence the name. The Andaman climbing palm, the bird's nest fern and other plants create an environment comparable to a rain forest, making it great fun to wander around.

It is the Great Banyan Tree, however, which is the greatest attraction and landmark of the gardens. The tree, Ficus benghalensis, is more than 250 years old and has spread over an area of 1.5 hectares (4 acres), with about 2880 prop-roots (aerial roots reaching down to the ground). It had a place in the Guiness book of records as the widest tree in the world, however it became diseased after it was struck by lightning, so in 1925 the middle of the tree was excised to keep the remainder healthy; this has left it as a clonal colony, rather than a single tree. It certainly looks more like a forest!

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The New Market was built in the 1870s on Lindsay Street, which had been bought by the Calcutta Corporation as a site for its new complex, an alternative shopping site for the British citizens of Calcutta to the local bazaars. It was opened to the English residents on January 1st 1874. Sir Stuart Hogg, the chairman of the Corporation, had supported the plans for the market, and in 1903 his perseverance was rewarded by the market being named after him - his name is still on the front, even though it seems to have reverted to its original name since Independance.

The market has been expanded twice - to the north in 1909, and to the south in the 1930s - and the clock tower was also added in the 1930s. Large portions of the original building burned down in 1985, but it has since been rebuilt and a new wing added.

The New Market is a great place to wander around at any time - full of jewellery and clothes shops at the front, with sweet shops too, and vegetable stalls in the open arcades to the sides. Around Holi, when we were there, there were also lots of stalls selling tika powder, and also going on at the time was Kolkata haat, which was apparently an arts and crafts initiative, but what we saw of it was musical performances outside the main building, and lots of food stalls - it was more like a little festival, possibly due to Holi.